Ships use red and green lights to indicate the left- and right-hand sides of the ship. By observing these lights, a captain can tell if a ship is approaching him or traveling in the same direction. These devices depend on being able to see in the visible part of the spectrum which, of course, is sometimes limited to very short ranges. During these times, the ships are usually visible to all weather radar and to some lasers in the near and far infrared. The invention disclosed here consists of a passive part which may be mounted on ships and an active part that is used for making observations. The same system may also be used by the military for IFF (Identify - Friend or Foe) purposes in many different scenarios, and it is for this purpose that the system is to be developed. Here, it is desirable to interrogate a target in as unobtrusive a manner as possible; and the return signal must be coded so as to indicate "friend." It is an object of this disclosure to provide a device which uses a programmable polarization of the return light wave for this purpose.